Putting a Twist on Spiral Wrapped Rods and Making them
Affordable – The Riverside M2

Date:

8/30/18

Tackle Type:

Rod

Manufacturer:

Uribe

Reviewer:

Zander

Total Score: 8.71 - BEST VALUE AWARD

Introduction: Spiral wrapped, acid wrapped, whatever you wish to call
them, these offset guide wraps are nothing new, and ever since custom rod
builders started employing the configuration decades ago they have been the
subject of great debate. Uribe Rods has not only fully embraced the
configuration but is actively trying to drive adoption by making their Riverside
Series rods premium performers at a surprisingly aggressive price. Is it time
for the masses to once again consider “twisted” guide wraps? Uribe makes the
choice that much easier with the subject of today’s review, the all-purpose
Riverside M2 rod.

Uribe
Riverside
M2 Rod
Specifications

Material

Toray 36T to
24T Blended
Carbon with
nano resin
pre-preg

Length

7'3"

Line Wt.

8-14lb

Lure Wt.

3/8 - 3/4 oz

Pieces

one

Guides

SS316 tangle
free guides
with ceramic
inserts

Power Rating

Medium-Heavy

Taper

X-Fast
Action

Origin

Designed in
California,
Made in
China

MSRP

$109.99

The Uribe Riverside
rods make use of a
blended carbon blank
design featuring a
combination of Toray
carbon and boron
fibers all with a
nano resin pre-preg

Impressions:
Anglers can argue
the spiral wrapped
pros and cons at
length but what it
ultimately boils
down to is
priorities and
preferences. So
let’s start with why
they even exist to
begin with.

The goal
of a spiral wrap is
to achieve some of
the benefits of a
spinning rod
configuration with a
casting rod setup,
including optimal
guide spacing, guide
reduction (and thus
weight reduction),
improved
sensitivity, and
better power and
fish fighting
characteristics.

One of the biggest
features of the rod
is the spiral wrap
that is designed to
remove stress out of
the rod while
reducing friction

When spiral wraps
first came out there
was a lot
experimentation, not
only on the guide
spacing but also the
degree of rotation
of the guides to
maximize line
handling without
adverse effects to
line lay on reels.
This was far from an
exact science and
early freshwater and
saltwater rods were
met with much
skepticism and
criticism of not
only the performance
benefits but how odd
they looked in
comparison to
traditional casting
rods.

The M2 rod is one of
three rods in the
series and is
designed to be an
all purpose rod

Over time optimal
spacing and new
guides allowed for
more efficient
designs, helping rod
makers build new
configurations that
more seamlessly
managed line and
torque, effectively
reducing blank
twisting and
friction with less
guides for the line
to have to go
through while both
casting baits or
loading up when
fighting fish.

Today
spiral wrapped rods
have refined to the
point where most
anglers agree that
the design does
offer performance
benefits, but
adoption is still
surprisingly slow as
the biggest barrier
continues to be
anglers having
trouble wrapping
their heads around
the non-symmetrical
guide placement,
some downright
rejecting them based
on styling alone.

I paired the rod
with a Shimano
Bantam throughout
the tests

I
know I personally
have in years past
while Cal fell on
the other side of
the spectrum and
actively pursued
these rods or had
custom ones built
for his own
collection.
Uribe Fishing
Products is a rod
manufacturer that
not only employs the
spiral wrapped
design but fully
embraces it with
their “Twisted
Wrapped Guide
System,” which is
the company’s take
on the spiral guide
configuration, and
intended to create
an overall more
sensitive and
durable rod.

Real World Tests:
Uribe currently
offers two rod
lines, the
mainstream oriented
Riverside Series and
higher-end Scuderia
Series. The rods
that we were most
interested in taking
a look at first were
the more
aggressively priced
Riverside rods which
are named after the
location in
California where the
company is based.
The company keeps
things simple with
this series,
offering only three
Riverside rod
options, the M1
(8-15lb), M2
(10-20lb), and M3
(12-25lb)
configurations.